Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 1312: Chapter 714: I Am the Sun

Under the uncurling wave of rats, the contrast with the panicked adventurers was stark as the armored soldiers among the trusted aides stopped in their tracks, turned around, and silently drew their weapons.

The cavalry and some of the trusted aides wanted to stay behind as well, but they couldn’t fall here. They needed to rush out and preserve Hamlet’s final mobile force, so they followed the orders and charged forward.

Reason and loyalty are the weapons Lance left for the army.

This scene greatly shocked the Mendicant Monk because even the Candlelight Priest stopped and turned around.

Brother Martin was both anxious and angry. Damn it, why are you following them?

At this time, instead of seizing the opportunity to run away, do you really think you can withstand them?

If it weren’t for the fact that he was on the chariot to facilitate his spell-casting earlier, he would have held back the Candlelight Priest.

What left him speechless was that the legion also stopped. Are you all in on Hamlet as well?

Almost at the instant Reynard turned around, the crowd decided who would stay behind to cover the retreat.

Are they going to take on the rat swarm?

Can they win...?

Reynard wasn’t as at ease as he appeared; his power far beyond that of a typical master largely relied on equipment imbued with the sun’s power, whether it was the previous Sunlight Ring or the newly equipped Sunlight Cloak.

However, his powerful abilities would disappear as the sun set. The fluctuation of this power had created a peculiar condition; during the day, he was extraordinarily powerful, but when the sun set, the equipment’s ineffectiveness brought him weakness.

This weakness was more of a psychological condition; he gradually blurred the line between the power brought by the equipment and his own innate strength, causing his confidence to plummet as his state receded into the dark.

This is why Lance does not recommend wearing extraordinary equipment for prolonged periods, even if there are no obvious side effects; it will gradually affect the user.

Extraordinary power always comes with a price...

And this time, the celestial anomaly occurred at noon; the sun was blocked by a dark shroud, plunging all of Hamlet into darkness starting from the ruins.

This greatly shook his confidence, as the sun had always signified that darkness would eventually be dispelled by the light.

But the scene unfolding before him made him ponder—darkness actually possesses such formidable strength, so much so that even the blazing sun can’t defeat it?

This seemed rather pessimistic, reminiscent of those church folks who would exclaim every day ”Has the Holy Light abandoned me?”

With the decline of his state due to darkness, combined with the immense psychological pressure, Reynard’s condition had already hit rock bottom. Yet, even so, upon realizing that the team in Hamlet had fallen into the ruins, he still unhesitatingly volunteered, leading the cavalry deep into the ruins for rescue.

One could only say he truly disregarded his life, charging in under high pressure, because he knew that My Lord would not leave his allies in distress.

Though the journey was arduous, with two preparations, he barely managed to cope with the skeletons, and the hope for escape was seemingly right ahead.

Unexpectedly, he found himself in this position at the final moment...

Due to his background with the Church, he had consulted My Lord multiple times on these matters, eventually clarifying the concept of faith and religion, and once anchoring his hope on the sun.

But believing in the Holy Light, the holy war’s slaughter and plunder, believing in the sun, a scorching sun leading to extinction, what else is left to believe in?

Reynard glanced at the brothers beside him and the resolute soldiers, recalling a casual remark by My Lord from before.

”What you believe in is neither other people’s idea of the sun nor the sun in the sky, but rather the righteous, blazing ’sun’ within your own heart, although I prefer to call it conviction.”

I can trust them, I can trust Hamlet, I can trust My Lord, and I can trust myself.

”It turns out... the sun has always been in my heart...”

As the rat swarm was about to overwhelm everyone, at this moment, Reynard seemed to grasp something, and he reversed his long sword to plunge it before himself, arms raised high.

Instantly, a scorching brilliance exploded from him, a power not derived from the sun that could be shrouded, nor from the Mendicant Monk’s divine arts, but from his own... conviction.

Embrace the sun!

A myriad of rays burst out, dazzling to the eye, as though the blazing sun stood overhead, dispelling not only dimness but even the red mist in an instant under the intense light, daring not to be confronted.

The rats advancing suddenly fell under the overpowering radiance, originally driven mad by the artificially darkened surroundings, now as if struck with terror.

A multitude of rats with their blood-red eyes revealing madness had their frenzy replaced by fear and the urge to flee prevailing.

A significant number of rats were blinded because of their proximity, plunged into endless darkness, and even more exaggerated was the delicate nerves causing some to die from fright directly.

After the light receded, what others saw was Reynard standing there, the front half of the rat swarm frozen, while the rear half began a frantic retreat, forcibly halting the swarm’s offensive.

This scene undoubtedly represented the sprouting of hope from within the darkness.

The Mendicant Monk was the most shocked, agitatedly thinking, no way, how did you receive the Holy Light’s sanctuary?

Furthermore, how could someone in a place like Hamlet, which repels the Church, use the Holy Light as a medium to ascend to champion?

Are you Hamlet’s champion or the Church’s champion?

The surge of countless mixed emotions led him to forget momentarily about the escape en route.

Those around Reynard were also bewildered by the light that had burst from him earlier, but seeing the halted rat swarm and the vast number of fleeing rats, they were surprised, unbeknownst to having kept a hidden ace up his sleeve.